Congressman’s Fuel Cell Road Trip Was Horrifically Inefficient

Congressman Eric Massa of NY tried to drive a fuel cell car from NY to DC to make an environmental point and to show how great fuel cell cars are. He failed at both.

Representative Massa made the 480km NY to DC trip in a car that has a maximum range of 320km. How? By enlisting the help of two SUVs to tow two fuel cell cars while not in use.

Massa drove one fuel cell car while a hybrid SUV [Chevy Tahoe] towing an additional SUV followed along. Once he got half way, he switched to new fuel cell car [which I assume was towed to the half way point sometime earlier so that it would be waiting for the environmentally-conscious congressman]. The empty fuel cell was then towed back by the first SUV. As he continued on his journey, the second SUV followed. Once Massa arrived in DC, the second SUV then towed the second fuel cell car back to NY.

So basically, one SUV traveled 480km and one SUV traveled 960km for a total of 1600km on a 480km trip. That’s not even counting the mileage on the fuel cell car. Nice work there Captain Planet. [Famous DC via Boing Boing]